Treatment of sirolimus-eluting stent restenosis: Additional stent, balloon angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass graft

Objective: Sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) has shown a significant efficacy in reducing restenosis after percutaneous coronary interventions. However, an increase in total number of SES use along with targeting more complex lesions generated a large number of SES restenosis. This study aimed to investigate the clinical and angiographic outcomes of different revascularization strategies for SES restenosis. Methods and Results: A total of 176 lesions in 149 patients were included in the study. Fifteen patients underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG group) and the remaining patients were treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Stent reimplantation was performed in 88 patients (Stent group), whereas 46 patients received balloon therapy (Balloon group). Among 176 lesions, major cardiac adverse event (MACE) occurred in 41 lesions (23.3%) during a median follow-up of 310 days (interquartile range: 146-517 days). The Kaplan-Meier method with a log-rank test revealed no significant difference in MACE rates between the three groups (6%, 25%, 26%, p = 0.13; CABG group, Stent group, Balloon group, respectively). However, when the Balloon group and Stent group were combined together as a PCI group, PCI group had a significantly higher rate of MACE compared with the CABG group (p = 0.04). In addition, angiographic restenosis was significantly less prevalent in the CABG group when compared with the other two groups (8%, 57%, 46%, p = 0.006; CABG group, Stent group, Balloon group, respectively). Conclusions: CABG surgery for patients with SES restenosis is associated with the better clinical outcomes as well as better angiographic outcomes when compared with that of PCI.